India’s solar exports nearly double in FY20

In 2019-20, India’s exports of solar modules and cells stood at US$ 212.69 million nearly doubling from US$ 121.08 million (₹847 crore) in the previous year. In terms of volume, the country’s exports rose 175% to 6.9 million units in 2019-20, compared with 2.5 million in the year before. This is a significant development as Indian manufacturers, such as Adani Solar, Tata Power Solar and Waaree, have been saying that with some support, they can take on the Chinese in the overseas markets.

However, in 2008-09, India exported modules and cells (cells are assembled to make modules) worth $533 million. This happened to be the time when China started building meta-scale factories and brought down prices dramatically — from around US$ 1.2 a Watt-peak a decade back, to US$ 0.18 now. Consequently, the government is today grappling with the issue of reducing India’s dependence on imported solar modules and cells and developing a domestic manufacturing industry. The country’s are overwhelmed by competition from cheap imports.